Column: Why reinvestment is needed to protect drinking water

Updated 11:19 am, Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Beth Nesteriak is the senior advisor to the president and director of business strategy at the Regional Water Authority.

Beth Nesteriak is the senior advisor to the president and director of business strategy at the Regional Water Authority.

Photo: Contributed

Column: Why reinvestment is needed to protect drinking water

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At the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, we are participating in a nationwide educational effort organized by the Value of Water Coalition called “Imagine a Day Without Water” on Oct, 12 . We are joining hundreds of groups across the country to raise public awareness about the need for reinvestment in drinking water infrastructure and resources.

The American public is already widely supportive of implementing these needed investments. Above any other pressing political issue, Americans name rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure as the issue they most want our elected officials to address. Two thirds of voters said so in a recent national poll by the Value of Water Campaign. And 82 percent of Americans said in the poll that water infrastructure needed to be a top priority.

But unfortunately, investing in water infrastructure has not been a priority for decades. The federal government’s drinking water funds have declined precipitously, leaving states, municipalities and water utilities to make up the difference. While many of these challenges are regionally specific and will require locally driven solutions, reinvestment in our water must be a national priority.

At the RWA, we address our massive infrastructure system of pumps, plants and pipes each year by preparing a prioritized list of improvements, additions and renovations to the water system for projects that are needed to provide for present and future water supply requirements, the protection of the existing water supply, and to meet the water quality standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act. We invest approximately $27 million annually in infrastructure improvements.

Like the majority of American communities, the RWA uses bonds to finance local infrastructure improvements. All of us who pay for water service absorb the cost of this investment primarily through higher water rates because these improvements are the main driver for rate increases. Although the RWA’s operating efficiencies, planning and effective use of capital dollars have helped to mitigate rate increases by 16 percent since 2009, we need more help from federal legislation that lowers the cost of borrowing for infrastructure projects.

Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, and The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provide low-interest loans and grants to help community water systems upgrade their infrastructure to remain in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. We must encourage our U.S. Congressional representatives to stand behind more of this much-needed legislation because it will directly benefit customers. In doing so, it’s vital that each of us support our local elected officials and community leaders in making decisions necessary to address the infrastructure that connects, protects and delivers high-quality water.

Despite the vast challenges facing American water infrastructure, the good news is that there is great opportunity in investment. A study conducted by the Value of Water Campaign has found that there is over $220 billion in economic activity to be gained nationwide by closing the water infrastructure investment gap.

Water is a public health issue and an economic issue. No community can thrive without it, and every citizen deserves a safe, reliable, accessible water supply. Some communities in America already know how impossible it is to try to go a day without our most precious resource: Water. Let’s demand better, and make sure no one ever has to imagine a day without water.

Beth Nesteriak is the senior adviser to the president and director of business strategy at the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority.